ON THE FARM WITH ADAM
SIMPLE STEPS CAN HELP OUR WATERWAYS
Farmers can take simple steps to protect their ponds, streams and rivers.
On the Cotswold hills there’s some old weather lore that still rings true: “February fill ditch, black or white”. In other words, the weather is so cold and wet this month that gullies, dykes and drains are sure to swell with rain or melting snow.
Not only does this particular saying have a habit of being proved right, it’s also a timely reminder of the importance of watercourses in the countryside. I often describe farmers as the custodians of the land, but that also means we’re the guardians of the landscape features. This responsibility is recognised in the Government’s post-Brexit plans for agriculture, with an emphasis on rewards for farming practices that are in harmony with the environment.
BLESSED WITH CLEAN WATER
It’s something that’s close to home for me thanks to one of the natural jewels of the Cotswolds. The River Windrush is a tranquil, meandering tributary of the mighty Thames and our farm is on the high exposed land to the east of the river valley. The water glides through damp meadows and dotted throughout the area are old iron pumps where drinking water was drawn, not from the river, but from the limestone.
In fact, the water to my farmhouse, our animal field troughs and sheds as well as two neighbouring farmhouses all comes from a natural spring. The water is pumped up to a water tank at the highest point on the farm and it then runs by gravity to its destinations. It never runs dry and it’s been providing us with clean, fresh water that has been filtered through the limestone for as long as I can remember.
We’ve also found evidence of another long-forgotten supply. In the middle of a copse of trees there’s a wide saucer-shaped hollow in the ground with the moss-covered remains of a stone wall running through the centre. It’s all that’s left of an ancient dewpond. The name’s a bit misleading because these man-made shallows normally collected rainwater, not dew, but for centuries they were an ingenious, wildlife-friendly way of providing water for cattle and horses.
Our dried-up dewpond is a reminder of the generations of farmers who took care of this land long before the Henson family arrived, and it’s inspired me to rejuvenate an old pond on another part of the farm. I’m keen to do more for frogs, toads and newts, dragonflies and mayflies and the resulting birdlife attracted by the prospect of a tasty meal on the wing.
Before the digger got to work, we tested the water coming off the land for nitrates and phosphates. Run-off of chemicals from fields has been a concern in the industry for years and one of the big factors is bad weather. DEFRA-backed research suggests winter storms are responsible for about a third of the nitrogen and phosphorous material running into rivers and streams. The good news is that a few easy steps can reduce pollution: drilling (seed sowing) only in dry weather, changing the pattern of tramlines and using field margins to trap run-off can drastically cut the amount of silt running down to watercourses. Cover crops also do a brilliant job of improving the soil structure, which helps retain rainwater.
February fill ditch is still a reality, but at least these days we’re able to do something to offset the worst effects of the wintry weather.